Ancient mining town of the Loiret, Dordives takes place in the Gâtinais agricultural region at the edge of the Seine-et-Marne department. It is located not far from the Montargis Forest, just a few kilometers from Souppes-sur-far, Ferrières-en-Gâtinais or Bransles.
Exploited for its iron deposits As soon as ancient times, the municipality of Dordives was also renowned for its activities of Forges thanks to the abundant forests whose woods then fed the furnaces. The total deforestation of the region in the sixteenth century put an end to this once lucrative activity. The farhead, which takes its source in the Yonne, also made the wealth of the city until the beginning of the eighteenth century, ensuring a significant livelihoods to the mariners and floats.
Poor rural village until the twentieth century, Dordives subsequently knows a second breath thanks to its careers and tourist activities.
Originally constructed in the twelfth century, the Saint-Etienne church was then made up of two naves separated by five arcades. It suffers many ravages during the Hundred Years War, including a large fire. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the church sees the condemnation of certain windows of the bottom and the installation of a large open-labeled canopy to bring more light to the whole. His current steeple was raised in the twentieth century and the building had a new catering campaign in the 1960s. It was at this time that the three windows of the twelfth century were reopened, thus revealing modern stained glass windows.
Listed on the historical monuments, the ruins of the castle of Mez-le-Marechal take place in a marshy bottom of the Betz Valley. This castle was built on the remains of a former Roman camp and presents a large square enclosure built in the early 13th century. It is possible to discover four flank towers and a door to two towers. Inside, the dungeon and the two wings of the Logis have left a few traces. The architectural ensemble resumes the principles of Filipan fortification created under the impulse of King Philippe-Auguste. Place of residence until the eighteenth century, the castle has since dropped.
Rebuilt in the nineteenth century, Threelle Castle reveals its original architecture that few vestiges. So used for hunting appointments, it presents in particular a chapel built at the same period. Carp ponds have been installed for the delight of fishermen in the region.
By walking around Dordives, you can discover the vestiges of port on the boards, a place called that unveiled in the 1970s a large number of objects and other ceramics of the Neolithic. Nor he hesitate to enjoy the many ponds in the sector like those of Cercranceaux managed by the natural conservatory of the center and presenting the ruins of the eponymous abbey as well as the old sandbreaker, or to go fishing in the rivers of first and second categories.
The town also has several marked hiking trails, tennis courts and offers several hobbies to do on site.
Housed in a former pardonal farm, the glass museum and its trades proposes to discover the history of the glassware of the Loland Valley since the middle of the eighteenth century. The site unveils more than 1500 objects dedicated to products and glass techniques. Over the rooms, you can discover the history of Pyrex, Sovirel or Corning, and admire the glass blower workshop. Temporary exhibitions and creative workshops are regularly proposed.
